Frozen Oceans packs shortlisted for Education Resource Award

20 February 2012

We are pleased to announce that the Frozen Oceans school resource packs created following the Catlin Arctic Survey 2011 have been shortlisted in the Best Secondary Resource with ICT category at the Education Resource Awards!

The Digital Explorer Frozen Oceans packs are curriculum resources exploring the Arctic Ocean for geography and science. Each booklet contains lesson plans, activity sheets, experiment ideas and fact sheets. They are designed to be used with the Classroom Media Player multimedia software.

The booklets are based on the findings of the Catlin Arctic Survey 2011. This was a unique collaboration between scientists and explorers to undertake field research in the Arctic, of which PML's Dr Helen Findlay has taken part for the last two years.

The Survey enables the monitoring, measuring and collection of information to improve scientific understanding of the processes involved in, and the impacts of, climate change.

The surface layers of the Arctic Oceans were examined in order to research how changes within the seawater beneath the floating sea ice may be affecting powerful ocean currents that influence prevailing climate and weather patterns worldwide.

Increased levels of freshwater from melting sea ice, ice caps and glaciers, and warming Arctic waters, may radically unbalance the processes which sustain the most significant of these currents. The Survey is focused on the impact of this increased freshening of the Arctic Ocean’s water, and the potential changes this could cause to Earth’s global ocean circulation system. It also focused on ocean acidification and carbon cycling. Scientists from the US, UK and Canada have conducted experiments at a unique research station on the frozen Arctic Ocean with the support of experienced polar explorers and guides.

Dr Findlay acted as a scientific advisor for the packs, working alongside Digital Explorer to develop the ocean acidification knowledge, carry out interviews, write blogs and provide scientific information.

The winner for the Best Secondary Resource with ICT category at the Education Resource Awards will be announced in March 2012.

PML whose charitable aims include making science work for society has been shortlisted in the “environment and conservation” category of ‘The Charity Awards’, Civil Society Media’s annual awards programme held to identify, recognise and reward those organisations doing exc...